


Bey Grand Order

by ova_kakyoin



Series: Bey Grand Order [1]
Category: Fate/Grand Order, ベイブレードバースト | Beyblade Burst (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fate/Grand Order AU, Language, Major Character Death at End of Chapter 8
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-11
Updated: 2021-03-17
Packaged: 2021-03-17 23:33:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29973960
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ova_kakyoin/pseuds/ova_kakyoin
Summary: Things have been tough at the Beigoma Strike Force lately; Morale was low, the weather was near-deadly, and one of their members deserted a few weeks ago. That's when Rantaro brings some unexpected strangers from out in the cold. Maybe things would start looking up?
Series: Bey Grand Order [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2204676
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	1. New Arrivals

**Author's Note:**

> This doesn't take place in the Fate/Grand Order world but it does use a modified version of the magic system. Characters are servants unless stated otherwise and each character has a class and they all will be revealed as the story continues.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rantaro brings back some strangers from the cold and Fubuki has doubts about himself and the people around him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be using some of my head-canons if you'll so kindly indulge me.

“Come on, Hyuga, we can make it. It’s just a little farther. If we make it to that camp, we’ll be fine.”

Hikaru trudged through the snow, barely able to see far enough ahead of him to take a step. The cold was biting, he felt as if his arms were about to fall off, and it wasn’t helped by Hyuga on his back, probably unconscious by now but Hikaru couldn’t give up. They had come too far for him to give up. Maybe this was all a wild goose chase and there wasn’t even a camp to begin with. Maybe Hikaru had doomed them and they were going to fail from the start.

 _No! I can’t afford to think like that! We’ll make it! We’ll be fine!_ Hikaru kept walking, barely making any progress as snow blew into his eyes, nearly blinding him. He lifted his foot to take another step but he tripped, tumbling down into the snow. He lifted his heavy head and wiped the snow from his eyes, panicking as he realized he had lost track of Hyuga.

“Hyuga! Hyuga! Hyuga where are you!” Hikaru could feel tears forming in his eyes as he looked around in fear. He knew that Hyuga wouldn’t answer, but he ignored that, continuing to call out. He was able to finally sit up and look around, feeling a rush of relief as he saw a flash of red a few feet away from him. He dragged himself over to his brother and pulled himself on top of him, shielding him from the cold. He laid there for what felt like ages. He felt tired, like he was going to pass out, but he couldn’t, they still needed to get to that camp. He tried to get up but didn’t have the energy. He closed his eyes and clenched his fists. They couldn’t give up after coming so far. They couldn’t.

* * *

“Alright, that’s everyone's job for the day, any questions?” Valt looked around as Ranjiro raised his hand from out of the mountain of blankets he had wrapped around himself.

“Yeah, why the hell are we doing any work in weather like this?” Shasa, who was sitting next to him, wrapped in an equal amount of blankets, smacked him on the shoulder. “Ow!” She looked at Valt.

“No matter how crassly he put it, he does have a point. There seems no reason to do any of this when it’s snowing so hard. I doubt the Dread Troupe is doing anything in this weather, either.” Ranjiro looked at her.

“Why do you insist on calling them by the full name every time?”

“I don’t want people to get confused. Why, should I call it DT, like you do?”

“Yeah, actually I think that would be helpful.” Silas rolled his eyes to the ceiling.

“Jesus CHRIST we are wasting so much time, Valt probably doesn’t want us to fall out of the schedule,” He turned to look at Valt. “Am I right?” Valt nodded.

“That’s right, so everyone, shoo. Go… do your things…” As everyone begrudgingly stood up, leaving most of the blankets, Rantaro walked up to Valt.

“How come I’m always on patrol duty?” Valt tilted his head, about to speak.

“Because you like it, don’t you?” Shu interrupted, walking up to the two and Rantaro put his hand to his chest.

“Aw! You remembered!” Valt grinned.

“Of course we did! We wouldn’t forget something like that!” Rantaro put his hands on his hips.

“Alright! I’m heading out!” He walked towards the door, grabbing a coat and two blankets left on a chair.

“You always bring blankets, I know it’s cold but, seriously?” Free was beginning to get up and head towards his post as Rantaro prepared to leave.

“You never know what might happen. It’s always better to prepare.” Shu said, looking at Free, who shrugged and waved as he headed out into the rest of the camp. Rantaro followed, putting a little more emphasis behind his wave as Valt turned back to Shu.

“Alright, let’s get planning!”

* * *

Rantaro wrapped the blankets tighter around him as he walked forward. He was lucky he knew the path so well, he could barely see his hand in front of his face.

“Jeez, maybe I should ask to not do this during the winter. But then someone else would be forced to trudge through the snow on a path they don’t know. Maybe this is fine.”

He stopped as he saw something through the white wall of snow in front of him. He squinted and sped up, feeling an increasing sense of alarm. As he got to the two lumps in the snow he felt intense panic as he realized they were people. He immediately took the two blankets off of his shoulders and wrapped the one on top in them and took off his coat, wrapping the smaller one with it and lifting them both up to him and he turned around, frantically searching for his footsteps. As he saw them, he began sprinting. Well, sprinting as well as he could in weather like this. He didn’t know exactly what was going to happen, but he knew that he had to get these two to camp. They would definitely die if he didn’t, and he wasn’t about to let that happen.

* * *

Valt and Shu were still cleaning up the morning meeting when Rantaro shoved the door open and ran in, not bothering to close it. The two looked at him in shock. Valt hurried over and shut the door.

“Dude, you’ve barely been gone ten minutes, what happened?” Shu raised an eyebrow.

“And why did you take off your coat? And why are you holding it like that?” Rantaro would have rolled his eyes but he was in too much of a hurry.

“Where’s the warmest place in camp?” Valt tilted his head.

“The kitchen, obviously, but why-” He didn’t even have time to finish his question before Rantaro hurried out of the room. Shu and Valt looked at each other and followed him quickly. As they were running, Rantaro called back to them.

“Who’s on kitchen duty?”

“Rickson, why?”

“Good, Silas would have my head if it was him.”

Soon, Valt and Shu lost sight of Rantaro and slowed down, silently agreeing to just walk the rest of the way. As they reached the kitchen, they heard Rantaro and Rickson talking.

“Thank god you always bring blankets with you.”

“I’m lucky I found them, I don’t know how long they would have survived out there.” Valt and Shu hurried over and looked behind the makeshift counter to see two kids sitting by the stove.

Valts eyes widened in shock.

“What the hell?” Rantaro looked at Valt and started speaking so fast Valt couldn’t keep up.

“Ifoundthesetwokidshalfdeadburiedinth-”

“Woah Woah Woah. Slow down, take deep breaths.” Shu said, putting his hands up in front of his chest, signaling Rantaro to slow down. Rantaro took a deep breath before starting over.

“I was on my usual route when I found these two kids half dead, buried in the snow. I wasn’t sure what to do, so I bundled them up and turned around, deciding the safest thing to do was bring them back here immediately.” Shu looked at the two kids, hardly believing his friend.

“Seriously?”

“Yeah.”

Shu grimaced. Hopefully, they would be okay.

* * *

It had been about an hour when one of them started to move. The smaller one. Rickson stepped away from the food he was making and waved the others over, who were all sitting at the nearest table. Rickson crouched down next to the boy who slowly blinked his eyes open before seeing the four people standing around him. His eyes shot wide open and he looked panicked.

“Hikaru!” He looked to his left and then his right seeing the other boy sitting there. He attempted to move over to him, but Rickson held him back. “Hikaru!”

“Woah! Hold on, you need to save your energy!” The boy's eyes widened in horror when Hikaru didn’t respond and he glared at the others.

“You killed him! You killed him didn’t you!” The boy’s eyes started to fill with tears as Valt rushed around the counter and put his hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him.

“No no no! He’s okay he’s alive, don’t worry!” The boy looked down, still crying and clearly not believing him. “But we need you to calm down. What’s your name?”

“Hyuga…” Valt nodded and the boy, Hyuga, looked at him.

“Alright, Hyuga, are you okay? Can you walk?” He nodded and slowly stood up as Valt looked back at Rantaro and Shu. “We need to move them somewhere else. Are you okay if we take them to our room?” The two nodded in response and Rantaro walked over and picked up the other boy, Hikaru. He grimaced as he felt how cold the boy was. He turned to Rickson.

“Thanks for letting us crash your routine for a bit. Seriously.”

“No problem.” With that, they headed out and through the halls to their room. Valt held on to Hyuga’s hand and led him through the maze of a camp. He felt Hyuga stop and looked at the boy.

“Hold on!” He called to Shu and Rantaro. “What is it?” He looked at the boy whose eyes were quickly watering again.

“I’m wearing his coat…” Valt tilted his head before looking at Hikaru, realizing he was only wearing a shirt while Hyuga had two large coats on, enough to keep him warm and able to survive for multiple hours stuck in this weather. Hyuga looked at Valt in horror. “If he dies it’s my fault! I killed him!” Valt shook his head.

“No, this isn’t your fault! He won’t die. You’ll both be fine, can you keep walking? That’s what you can do to help him right now, okay?” Hyuga nodded, wiping tears from his eyes. Rantaro and Shu slowed down to keep pace with Valt and Hyuga as they continued. Rantaro's expression darkened and he kept his voice low as he spoke, hoping Hyuga wouldn’t hear.

“Hikaru was on top of him when I found them, probably trying to keep him warm.” Shu grimaced.

“This shouldn’t be happening.” He said angrily. “This is all because of the Dread Troupe, I’m sure of it. They were probably found out to be servants and kicked out of their homes.” Valt looked at Hikaru.

“You think so?”

“Oh yeah. There aren't any other reasonable explanations I can think of.” The four walked in silence until they reached the room. They got there and Shu pulled the blankets off of his bed and Rantaro laid Hikaru there, pulling the blankets over him. Hyuga stood next to the bed, still wrapped in blankets. He stared at his brother intensely.

“Please don’t die, Hikaru…!”

* * *

Rantaro was leaning up against a box sitting next to the wall, watching the two brothers intently. Hyuga was sitting on a chair pulled up next to Shu’s bed with a half-eaten bowl of oatmeal sitting in his hands. It was cold by now. Shu walked into the room with two cups of coffee. He walked over to Rantaro and handed him one of them.

“Anything?” He looked at Rantaro in concern. Rantaro shook his head. “Rantaro, it’s been nearly 24 hours. I hate to say it but-”

“He’ll be fine.”

“I understand how you feel, believe me, but the kid was out in the snow for what could’ve been hours without so much as a jacket. I don’t know how anyone could survive that, even a servant.” Shu looked at Rantaro whose expression hardened.

“That’s a tough one, I can tell. He’s not dying any time soon.” Shu sighed and started drinking his coffee. He knew that Rantaro could be too hopeful for his own good, but this seemed extreme even for him.

“I can tell what you’re thinking. But I understand this situation perfectly well. There’s nothing wrong with believing in someone.” Shu looked into his coffee, staring at his reflection.

“Maybe. I’m just worried about you. You always seem to get these ideas in your head that everything will be fine no matter what.”

“It’s called having hope. I figured you’d learn that after spending so much time with Valt.” Shu opened his mouth to speak but Rantaro continued before he got the chance to speak. “Despite what some of the people in this camp might tell you, sometimes you have to ignore the likely outcome and push for something more.”

“I know you’re talking about Free. Don’t worry, I won’t let him get to me. Despite his intentions, he can be scary sometimes.” Rantaro laughed quietly as Shu took another sip of his coffee.

“That’s rich, coming from you.” Shu almost spat out his drink. He glared at Rantaro.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Rantaro just shrugged and drank more of his coffee.

“You decide.” Shu rolled his eyes, smiling. He looked back at the brothers, grimacing. He shook his head. Rantaro was right. There was nothing wrong with having hope.

* * *

“Wh…”

Hikaru slowly opened his eyes. He was in a different place. His eyes widened and he looked around frantically before seeing Hyuga sitting next to him with his head lying on Hikaru’s stomach. Hikaru let his head fall back up the pillow under his head in relief. He turned his head and saw a man sitting on the bed next to him, his head leaning against the wall. He was asleep. Hikaru looked the other way and saw what looked to be a small hallway outside of the door with people hurriedly moving back and forth. Hikaru was going to sit up but Hyuga was fast asleep and he didn’t want to disturb him. He probably should let someone know he was awake, though. He felt like that was important. He shifted his weight and pulled himself into a sitting position. His movement woke Hyuga up and he looked up at him, his eyes filling with tears.

“Hikaru…? Hikaru…!” Hyuga nearly threw himself at his brother, wrapping his arms around him tightly and almost sobbing. “Hikaru! You’re not dead! You’re alive! You’re alive. You’re alive…” Hikaru looked at his brother in shock. He couldn’t have been out for more than 15 minutes. Enough for them to be found and relocated here of course, but no longer. Definitely not enough to warrant this reaction. His expression softened and he put his hand on his brother's head.

“I’m okay. I’m here.” Hyuga’s cries awoke the man sitting on the bed who looked at Hikaru in shock, his expression brightening as his eyes widened. He shot up and sprinted out of the door.

“Valt! Shu!” Barely half a minute later he came back with two other people. Hikaru looked at them each, in turn, confusion written clearly on his face.

“What happened?” He asked, still studying each of them. “When did you find us?”

“Before we do anything, Valt can you go get him some water?” The one with white hair, he must be Shu, looked at the other person, Valt, who nodded and ran out of the room. Hikaru didn’t realize how thirsty he was until now. Not a minute passed when Valt came running in with someone else, each had two cups in hand.

“I heard he woke up, Rantaro! Is he okay?” The blonde, Rantaro nodded, looking at the person who just came in.

“Thanks in part to you, Rickson. Thanks for the other day, seriously.” Hikaru grabbed one of the cups and gulped it down. He finished it in nearly a second and looked up at the group. Rantaro looked beyond elated for some reason.

“I’m so glad you woke up. We didn’t know if you would, honestly. Even I was starting to lose hope.” Valt’s eyes widened and he looked over at Rantaro.

“Really!?” Hikaru interrupted them.

“I couldn’t have been out for that long. Maybe an hour at most, but not enough to warrant this much commotion!” The four stared at him. Rantaro and Rickson looked at each other before Rickson spoke.

“Hikaru, you were out for a day and a half. At least, that’s just when Rantaro found you. God knows how long you were actually out.” Hikaru’s eyes widened. There was no way he was out for that long. He’d left Hyuga alone for that long!? No wonder everyone was acting up. Most of them had definitely accepted that he was probably going to die. Hikaru wrapped his arms around his brother.

“I’m here. I’m okay... I’m okay.”

* * *

Fubuki walked into the central tent. Someone needed to prepare the room for the morning meetings and he was always the first one up in camp so that someone was usually him. Usually. Today when he walked in he saw none other than Suoh leaning against the back wall of the already prepared room. He scowled and walked over to his usual seat and settled in. He did his best to sit still and avoid eye contact by thinking about other things. It had been a few days since Rantaro brought some kids back from patrol and he, Valt, and Shu had been rarely seen outside of helping the two settle in. Unfortunately for Fubuki, they had left Shasa, Rickson, and Suoh in charge while they were busy. That meant that every day, Fubuki had to not only deal with Suoh’s arrogant attitude but humor it as well. Shasa and Rickson were nice enough, even if they weren’t very good at talking and a little intense, and Valt clearly trusted them a lot, so it made sense for them to be put in charge, but Suoh being put in charge with them was an anomaly. Valt could have left it at just two, but he insisted on there being three in charge, such as he, Rantaro, and Shu had been in charge together most of the time. But it didn’t make sense why he chose Suoh over other people he clearly trusted more.

Well, the more Fubuki thought about it, Silas was far too aggressive to be in charge and Free had to be dragged in to even attend morning meetings, so even though Valt trusted them deeply, it was definitely a no for them. Anton wasn’t assertive enough, Ranjiro wasn’t even close to responsible enough, Aiger… Fubuki could barely continue with the thought and it took all his effort to not glare at Suoh while the thought crossed his mind. Aiger is MIA. He shook his head, pushing the thought from his mind. Why had it been Suoh, then? Why not him? Shu clearly trusted him, so why? Did they just see Suoh as more capable? Maybe he was biased? Fubuki’s eyes widened. That was it. They thought he was too biased. He had shown clear distrust towards Suoh over the past few weeks and barely knew anyone other than Shu and Ranjiro. He couldn’t name half the people in this camp if he tried, but Suoh was too organized for that to happen. He kept tabs on everyone and everything in this camp even if it wasn’t because he cared about them. He was incredibly aware while Fubuki was not.

“Why did you come early?” Fubuki couldn’t stop himself from asking the question. Suoh thought for a moment and Fubuki scowled. He was probably going to lie. Nothing new there.

“I’m in charge now, I might as well act it. I can’t have one of the people I’m in charge of doing work that I should be doing.” Fubuki glared at Suoh. He was making fun of him.

“Valt had no issues with me waking up before he did.”

“I find that strange.” Fubuki rolled his eyes and held his tongue. He was already going to have a tough time dealing with Suoh being in charge, he didn’t want to make it any worse. The two sat in silence until Rickson and Shasa walked in.

“Maybe if we cleaned up the pathway then people could patrol even in the snow.” Rickson thought for a moment.

“Well, only Rantaro knows the path that well, and he’s currently busy.” Shasa sighed, shaking her head. She looked up and saw the two sitting there. “Any Ideas, Suoh?” He thought for a moment.

“The only solution I see is for Rantaro to hurry up and get back to work.” Shasa rolled her eyes.

“We don’t know when that’s going to happen.”

“Maybe I could go?” The three looked at Fubuki as he volunteered. “I mean, I definitely don’t know the path as well as Rantaro, but I could figure it out. No one has patrolled since those two came here, so it’s probably better to have at least go around the majority of it.” Rickson and Shasa looked at each other, clearly hesitant. Shasa looked at Fubuki.

“I’m not sure that’s such a good idea. We’d rather you wouldn’t get lost, especially not in this weather. We’ve all seen what happens if you get stuck out there.”

“Good thing you won’t have to.” The four looked to the door to see Shu standing there. Fubuki stood up as he walked in. “We’re going to be taking over again.” Shasa sighed in relief.

“Thank god! How do you three do this!? It’s impossible!” Rickson nodded, obviously almost as relieved as she was. Shu smiled.

“Glad to bring good news. Now, show me what you had for today. We’ll work from there.”

* * *

Ranjiro leaned back in his chair as Fubuki stood up.

“C’mon, we need to get started if we don’t want everyone to be waiting for lunch. Again.” Ranjiro sighed as he stood up.

“Why do they still put us on kitchen duty? We always end up going slower and just needing help from Shu anyway.” Fubuki shrugged.

“I’d say it’s a rotation, but it isn’t.” He raised one eyebrow. “It does raise the question as to why Shu never assigns himself kitchen duty. He loves to cook and he very well could just do it himself every day? Maybe he thinks other things need his attention specifically?”

“Or maybe he thinks he shouldn’t have fun while this is going on?” Fubuki looked back at Ranjiro.

“You think?” Ranjiro sped up to walk next to him.

“I mean, that seems like something he’d think.” Fubuki nodded.

“You’re could be ri-”

“Coming through!” Fubuki and Ranjiro flattened themselves against opposite walls as something zoomed in between them. They watched it go before it came running back just as fast. Fubuki sighed as he realized it was one of the two kids Rantaro had brought back. The kid walked up to him.

“Hyuga, right?” Ranjiro asked, joining them. Hyuga nodded and looked back and forth between them.

“Have you seen Sisco? Dad is looking for him.” Fubuki tilted his head.

“Who’s looking for who? Sisco?” Hyuga nodded rapidly.

“Sisco! The guy with the scary face and spiky teeth!” Ranjiro raised an eyebrow.

“Silas?” Hyuga nodded.

“Yeah! Dad and Valt are looking for him!” Fubuki and Ranjiro looked at each other.

“We don’t know, last we saw him was when he left the Central tent.” With that, Hyuga turned around and kept running in the direction he first headed. Ranjiro looked at Fubuki.

“Who’s ‘dad’?” Fubuki tried to hold in laughter but failed. Ranjiro glared at him. “What!?”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, it’s just that I think Dad is your brother.” Ranjiro’s eyes widened.

“Holy SHIT you’re right!” Fubuki laughed as Ranjiro looked like his whole worldview had shattered. Fubuki was still laughing when they reached the kitchen and began preparing. Ranjiro finally spoke as they began cooking.

“I mean, he’s been constantly with them since they got here, of course, this would happen, jeez.” Fubuki looked up from the stove.

“Didn’t he basically raise you?” Ranjiro nodded.

“Yeah, and that’s why this keeps happening.” He rolled his eyes. “I swear, he sees some kid sitting by themselves and says ‘is anyone gonna be that kid's dad?’ and he won’t wait for an answer.” Fubuki laughed at his friend's voice deepening when he talked, clearly trying to do an impression of his brother.

“Pfft, your Rantaro voice could use some work.”

“Whatever.”

* * *

Fubuki looked over at the door as someone walked in. His expression darkened when he saw who it was.

“What do you want, Suoh?” Suoh tilted his head.

“Why do you always assume I’m up to no good?”

“Why should anyone assume otherwise!?” Ranjiro said, glaring at him. “In case you hadn’t noticed, you tend to purposefully cause problems.” Suoh didn’t look amused.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Fubuki felt himself become filled with rage at his response.

“What the hell do you mean you ‘don’t know what we’re talking about’!?” He yelled. “Everything that happened was your fault!” Suoh raised an eyebrow.

“What happened? Stop dancing around the issue like always and say it out loud, if you aren’t too scared that is.” Fubuki scowled.

“Everything with…”

“Everything that happened to Aiger!” Fubuki looked up in shock as Ranjiro spoke. “That was all you, don’t even try to deny it! You got into his head or something and made him freak out and leave!” Suoh sighed.

“You two are paranoid. Whatever happened was going to happen eventually. Aiger wasn’t fit to be here in the first place. Maybe he’s better off in the Dread Troupe.” Fubuki’s eyes widened.

“Are you saying you think he’s with them now!?” Ranjiro took a step towards Suoh.

“Who the hell do you think you are to say that!?”

“That’s enough!” The three looked up in shock and saw Rantaro walking up to them. He sighed and put his face in his hand. “This is getting out of hand. I know you three don’t particularly like each other, but this can’t keep happening.” Fubuki looked away. He liked Ranjiro plenty, it was just Suoh who was causing problems. “I know you have your problems but can you please just sort them out without arguing?” Suoh scoffed.

“You’re one to talk.” Rantaro spun around to stare at him in disbelief.

“Excuse me?” Suoh sighed.

“Nevermind.” With that, he turned around and walked out of the room. Rantaro turned to the two of them.

“Okay, ignore everything I just said, he’s the problem.” Rantaro shook his head. “No, nevermind. Sorry, but you two need to stop goading him on.” Ranjiro’s eyes widened.

“How are we goading him on!?”

“You keep aggressively bringing him up. It just encourages him.” Fubuki grimaced, knowing exactly who Rantaro meant by ‘him’. “I know you guys are upset. I am too, believe me, but you need to get your emotions under control, or else this whole place is going to fall apart.” Fubuki looked away. He was right, but Fubuki couldn’t help getting so angry every time Suoh talked to him, even though he knew it was causing problems. Ranjiro didn’t seem quite ready to admit that, though.

“You and Silas seem to get in arguments like that every day!”

“Maybe so, but at the end of the day, we’re always able to sort out our issues and work together without always fighting. You two seem incapable of doing that with Suoh.” Rantaro’s expression softened. “I just want you to not bring this whole place down because of your grudge, that’s all. I’m not asking you to be best friends with him or anything, I’m not even asking you to like him. Just keep yourselves in control, please?” He looked between the two before sighing, accepting their silence as agreement. “Alright, I’ll see you later.” He left the two who stood in silence for a moment before Fubuki spoke.

“He’s right, you know.”

“I know, I just get so angry I can barely stand the sight of him.”

“Yeah, I know, me too.”

“He’s definitely seeking out trouble, though.”

“Oh yeah, that’s 100% the reason he always barges in on our jobs.” Ranjiro chuckled and the two got back to work.

* * *

Fubuki walked into the central tent, pleased to see that he was the first one in there. He was still a little embarrassed after Rantaro’s lecture yesterday, but he was going to make up for it by setting up the central tent, not that he didn’t usually set up the central tent, but there would be meaning behind it today. He spent a little longer than normal making sure the chairs were all in a perfectly straight line and making sure the tables were pushed up against the wall as far as they could go. He looked out at his handiwork after he finished, putting his hands on his hips. He left the room and headed to his room to see if there were any spare blankets.

He was surprised when he got there and saw that Ranjiro was already awake.

“Oh, good morning!” He said, walking past his friend to grab the blankets neatly folded at the foot of his bed.

“Mornin’!” Ranjiro said, putting on his shoes. He stood up and stretched before looking at what Fubuki was doing. “Oh, d’you want mine?” He grabbed some of the blankets off of his bed and shoved them towards Fubuki before realizing they weren’t folded and he hurriedly tried to fold them before Fubuki started leaving. He handed him the haphazardly folded blankets and Fubuki took them.

“Thanks.” He was heading out of the room before turning back to Ranjiro. “What are you doing up so early?”

“You woke me up when you left and I couldn’t get back to sleep so I figured I should just get up.” Fubuki frowned in embarrassment.

“Sorry about that.”

“No it’s okay, I’m usually able to get back to sleep just fine.” Fubuki was even more embarrassed now. Was he really that noisy when he got up? Ranjiro looked at him and put his hands up, quickly trying to change what he said. “No no! I don’t mind, it’s okay! Really!” He sighed, seeing that he wasn’t undoing any of the damage he had done. He shouldn’t have told him, Fubuki was too much of a people pleaser. Ranjiro clapped. “Alright, let’s go!”

Fubuki nodded and they headed out. Fubuki took one last look at the room, checking to see if he forgot anything. His heart sunk when he saw the empty bed in the corner of the room.

_Aiger…_

* * *

The two had been walking for about five minutes when they reached the central fork.

“You’re headed to the central tent again I’m guessing?” Fubuki nodded.

“Yeah, what about you?” Ranjiro turned to go down the right hall.

“Kitchen. Might as well get some breakfast now that I’m up. D’you want anything?”

“No, I’m good, thanks though. See you, Kiyama” Fubuki went down the left hallway and towards the central tent. Once he got there, he put his blankets on the chair nearest to the door and refolded Ranjiro’s blankets. He sat down in his usual seat, waiting for the meeting to start.

* * *

“Hikaru, Caster class, and this is my brother Hyuga, he’s an-” Hyuga interrupted him, raising his hand and standing on his tiptoes.

“I’m an archer!” Ranjiro nodded next to Fubuki.

“Nice! It was getting lonely with just me and Anton.” Fubuki chuckled. For some reason, archers seemed to be few and far between these days. Rantaro put his hands on the two boys' shoulders.

“They’ll be staying with us for the foreseeable future, most likely until the fighting comes to a close or someone comes to get them.” Hyuga turned around to look at Rantaro.

“No one’s coming to get us.” Rantaro blinked, clearly taken aback by the boy's seemingly cheerful tone. He looked back at the group.

“Alright so until the fighting is over.” Shu took center stage.

“You all have your tasks for the day so go on.” Everyone filed out and Ranjiro almost followed them but Fubuki grabbed his shoulder and stopped him.

“Hold it, Kiyama.” He looked at Valt. “We didn’t get a job, why is that?” Valt, Shu, and Rantaro all looked at one another before Valt spoke.

“We need to talk to you about something.” Fubuki and Ranjiro looked at each other before following the three to their room. They walked in and Hyuga and Hikaru were sitting on Rantaro’s bed. Hyuga hopped off and ran to Rantaro.

“Dad! We don’t know where the kitchen is!” Rantaro sighed and poked his head out the door, seeing Anton walking past.

“Can you show my- the boys the kitchen.” Valt audibly had to stop himself from laughing. Anton looked from Rantaro to Hikaru and Hyuga.

“I don’t kno-”

“Great, thanks.” Rantaro pushed the boys out of the door and closed it. He looked at Fubuki and Ranjiro as his expression quickly darkened. Fubuki was getting scared and Ranjiro was getting impatient.

“What the hell is so important you had to bring us here instead of just telling us in the central tent?”

“And why did we not get a task today?” Valt sighed.

“We thought you should be the first ones to know this, and we figured you'd want to go out to see for yourselves. Yesterday, when Honcho was on patrol, he…” He looked down, unable to continue. Shu put his hand on his friend's shoulder and looked at the two.

“Yesterday, Rantaro passed by the Dread Troupe base, closer than he should have, mind you,” Shu shot a look at Rantaro who kept his gaze locked on his brother and Fubuki. Shu looked back at the two and sighed. “But, the point is, he…” Shu looked at the ground and then back up at the two. “He saw Aiger there.” Ranjiro’s eyes widened and Fubuki put his hand over his mouth. Ranjiro looked furious at the notion.

“There’s no way that’s true! You must have seen things wrong! He wouldn’t!” Suoh’s words flashed in Fubuki’s mind.

 _“Aiger wasn’t fit to be here in the first place. Maybe he’s better off in the Dread Troupe.”_ There was no way he was right, but then again… Fubuki looked at Shu desperately.

“You’re sure?” Shu nodded solemnly and Fubuki put his forehead in his palm. There was no way… “Aiger…”


	2. In the Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few weeks ago, something happened and Aiger was thrown into a sea of emotions. Not knowing how to handle himself, he makes a terrible decision, and Shu and Rantaro suspect foul play.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic gives me the chance to have characters that would have zero reason to interact in canon interact and I end up finding a lot of dynamics and ships I really like so there will be a lot of that going forward. also sorry this chapter isn't as long as the first one hopefully you still enjoy it!

“Seriously!? The Kiyama that Kiyama brought, brought someone else?” Silas put his face in his hand. Ranjiro scoffed.

“Two someone else’s actually!” Fubuki shifted his weight from foot to foot.

“We don’t mind going back out, really.”

“Pfft! Yeah right, like we’re leaving Cap’n here alone, dumbass!” Aiger grinned at Silas. “We’ll pull our weight, don't worry!” Silas sighed.

“Alright, I’ll talk to Valt, but we should really put a rule in place to stop you and your brother from bringing so many people in. Ranjiro waved his hand, signaling him to hurry up.

“Whatever, they help, don’t they?” Silas rolled his eyes and headed into the base. Fubuki looked at Ranjiro.

“So… do we just wait here?”

“Those are some faces I haven’t seen in a whiile!” The three jumped and turned to see Rantaro standing behind them, his hands on his hips. He looked up at the sky. “Man, it’s getting cooler by the day. Fall’s gonna get here in no time, I’ll tell you that for free.” Aiger tilted his head,

“It’s Rantaro, right?” Rantaro grinned. 

“I’m surprised you remembered! I haven’t seen either of you for a while! Glad to see you’re still kicking!” Fubuki was startled by the morbid greeting.

“That’s a bit dark…” Rantaro looked at him, his eyes wide.

“Oh, sorry. Things are just a little uncertain for us servants. Nevermind, I assume you’re here for something?” Aiger nodded.

“We’re gonna stay here and help you fight.” Rantaro stretched and started to walk inside before turning around, realizing that the three weren’t following him.

“Don’t just stand there, c’mon!” Fubuki and Ranjiro looked at each other before looking back at Rantaro. Fubuki spoke first.

“Silas said he was going to talk to Valt about it. We thought it would be better if we waited for him to come back.”

“Pfft! That asshole is probably planning to leave you out there until you give up and leave.” Aiger jogged to catch up with him.

“Don’t have to tell me twice!” Fubuki and Ranjiro looked at each other again and shrugged before looking back at the camp and following the two.

“I’m guessing you’re one of the people Ranjiro brought back yesterday?” Fubuki looked up at the person who just walked in. He walked over and sat down in the seat next to him.

“Oh, I’m sorry, was this your seat?”

“No, it’s fine, you can have it.” Fubuki felt a flash of guilt at his answer. He already messed up and they hadn’t even been there for a full 24 hours. Fubuki shook his head and looked at the person.

“I’m Fubuki, by the way.” The person looked at his hand for a moment before taking it and looking at him.

“Suoh. I’m assuming we’ll meet the other one a little later?” Fubuki nodded, looking to the front of the room.

“Yeah, during the morning meeting.” This Suoh seemed to be a refreshing calm compared to the rest of the busy and loud camp. He felt comfortable just sitting in silence next to him. Maybe things weren’t going so bad after all.

“I’m Fubuki, Servant class, Caster.” Fubuki put his hands behind him and Aiger put his hands on his hips, grinning.

“I’m Aiger, Servant class, Saber!” Fubuki noticed Suoh sit up straight, along with someone else sitting by the wall, the two clearly interested. But why, that seemed a strange thing to be interested in. Fubuki took his seat next to Ranjiro and Aiger sat down next to him as Valt started talking, giving everyone instructions for the day. Aiger paid little attention until he heard his name said. Soon after, the meeting was over. He looked over at Fubuki and Ranjiro.

“I’d say that went pretty well!” Ranjiro rolled his eyes.

“That’s because you just had to say your name and class.” Aiger looked at him.

“Oh, yeah. Guess I was getting nervous over nothing!” Ranjiro raised an eyebrow.

“Since when do you get nervous?” Fubuki looked between the two.

“Something weird did happen, though. When you said your class, Aiger, Suoh, and the one that looked like he was asleep, what was his name-” Ranjiro sighed.

“Free?”

“Yeah, him.”

“I assure you, he didn’t just look asleep, he was asleep.”

“Anyways, they looked at you weird when you said your class.” Aiger sat up and looked around the room, but the two were already gone.

“That’s strange…”

“What was that?” Aiger spun around to look at Ranjiro. “You were mumbling, we couldn’t hear you.” Aiger put his hands up in front of his chest.

“No, it’s nothing. I should be off!” He stood up and looked around the room before spotting who was going to be working with for the day. Anton was talking to Shasa, Rickson, and Silas. “You!” Anton spun around, looking nearly terrified.

“I’m sorry, should we head off?” Aiger nodded and grabbed him on the shoulder. He started to pull him away before looking back at Anton.

“By the way, why did I get chosen for this task?” Anton sped up to walk next to him after Aiger let go of him.

“Ranjiro said that you used to live on a farm so the three assumed you would be good at plant upkeep,” Aiger looked smug at Anton’s answer.

“I see my status as holder of the world's best green thumb precedes me!”

“I guess- wait what?” Aiger laughed.

“You get it!” Anton didn’t respond. He didn’t dislike Aiger per se, but he was definitely way too intense for his liking. But the others seemed to trust that he knew what he was doing, so Anton didn’t think too long on that.

Aiger stood up as Anton walked up to him before sighing and flopping back down in his seat.

“I forgot! Man, it’s gonna be so boring without our kids, Anton!” Anton smiled, draping his arms over Aiger’s shoulders and sitting his chin on his friend's head.

“I don’t know if kids are the right way to refer to them…” It had been a few months since Aiger and Fubuki showed up and Anton had been taking care of the garden every day with Aiger since, but with the fast-approaching cold, they had harvested the last of the plants and left the garden for the winter. Anton had to admit, he wasn’t Aiger’s biggest fan when he first arrived but working with him every day for the past few months, they had become incredibly close.

“At least you won’t have to worry about being bored today.” Anton was snapped from his thoughts as Rantaro walked up to them. “We need to stock up on supplies for winter. That’s why you’re coming with me today. We should head out before snow heads our way. You two better prepare.” Aiger hopped up, accidentally throwing Anton off.

“Alright! When are we heading out?” Rantaro thought for a moment.

“Well, usually I’d head out right away, but we need to have enough space to carry everything so meet me back here in an hour?” Aiger and Anton nodded and turned to go. Aiger was almost through the door when he bumped into Suoh.

“Oh, sorry ‘bout that!” Suoh studied him for a moment before taking a step back and letting Aiger through. He watched him go and thought for a moment. He should probably deal with this quickly.

“Excuse me? Aiger?” Suoh leaned against the entrance to Aiger, Fubuki, and Ranjiro’s room. Aiger was the only one in there. He was sitting on his bed, reading the back of one of Fubuki’s books. Aiger looked up when Suoh appeared at the door.

“Oh, hey Suoh, do you need something? I’m heading to the central tent in a few minutes.”

“Yeah, this won’t take long.” Suoh untied the door flap and let it cover the entrance. “I just have a few questions.” Aiger looked at him in confusion.

“Um… alright…”

“Aiger, are you a mage?” Aiger looked at Suoh, clearly not understanding the question. “What I’m asking is, did you cast that spell on yourself or did someone else?” Aiger’s eyes widened in horror. He looked at the ground.

“What are you talking about?” Suoh nodded.

“So you had it purposefully cast on yourself? Or are you just trying to hide something dangerous… I wonder,” He studied Aiger, who looked more nervous by the second. “What would happen if someone broke it?” Aiger abruptly stood up and headed towards the door.

“I should go.” Suoh grabbed his shoulder to stop him.

“What are you hiding, Saber?” Aiger stiffened at the mention of his class. He looked at Suoh, who tightened his grip on his shoulder. Aiger felt a jolt and felt something disappear. Suoh smirked. “Let’s see how you manage without that spell of yours.” Aiger looked at him in horror.

“Suoh, did you break that spell?” Aiger was a mix of horror and fury by this point. “Do you have any idea what that spell was doing!? Is your curiosity so strong that you’d be willing to put others at risk!?” Suoh studied Aiger. Something was already different about him. He didn’t know what Aiger was using that spell for, but it definitely was something Aiger didn’t want gone.

“You thought you were hiding it well, didn’t you? Unfortunately for you, casters can sense spells.” Aiger looked at Suoh, his mind racing, What other casters were at the camp? Aiger could only think of one.

_Shu…_

“Aiger? Aiger, are you in here?” Anton pushed the cover out of the way and looked into Aiger’s room. Aiger was sitting on his bed, staring at the floor with wide eyes. Anton walked towards him. “Aiger, what’s wrong?” He looked up and looked Anton in the eye. He stood up and took a step towards his friend before stopping.

“I can’t go with you today. You’ll have to go on your own.” Anton walked towards him.

“Why not? What’s going on?” Aiger looked away. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He looked at Anton. He was going to have to be careful but he couldn’t let his friend worry like that.

“Nothing. I’m fine. Sorry, let’s go.” Aiger walked out of the room but Anton stood there for a moment, watching him go. He sighed, shaking his head, before following him to the Central tent. He caught up with Aiger only to see him standing still in the doorway, staring in. Anton stopped next to him.

“Oh, yeah, Shu said he was going to come with us.” He looked at Aiger. “Sorry for not telling you earlier. Is that going to cause problems?” Aiger shook his head and headed in.

“No, it’ll be fine.” Aiger didn’t look at Shu as he walked in. He was too scared to see his reaction. Anton looked at Shu.

“Should we go get Rantaro?” Shu shook his head.

“We’d get too far behind schedule, let’s just wait for him here. They waited for a few minutes before Rantaro walked into the room, his expression brightening as he saw Aiger.

“Oh! Good, you found him!” He headed towards the door before looking back at everyone. “You all have your bags?” Anton nodded as he handed Aiger two bags. Aiger looked at his friend who was smiling.

_I can’t afford to lose myself…_

Anton and Aiger walked next to each other in silence. Shu looked away from them and back ahead. They had been walking for a few minutes and the camp was out of sight.

“Something happened.” Rantaro looked over at him. “To Aiger. Before we left. I can’t put my finger on it but something’s… different…” Rantaro looked at Aiger before looking back at Shu as he continued. “Something magical. I think so, at least.”

“Really? Well, you never were the best at sensing magic.” He raised an eyebrow. “So you think someone put a spell on him.” Shu shook his head.

“No, I think it’s the other way around… When he first arrived, I had suspicions that he had a spell on him, but I could never confirm it. But now, it feels like a part of him is… missing… in a sense. Like there’s less of him.” Shu sighed. “I’m not sure, but whatever that spell was, I don’t think he wanted it removed…” Rantaro thought for a moment.

“Hold on, if you knew that he had a spell on him, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Well I wasn’t sure so I didn’t want to raise any unneeded alarm and I don’t feel like it’s my business to report something that didn’t seem to be doing any harm.” Rantaro looked ahead.

“It could have been slowly destroying him from the inside.” Shu sighed.

“That was unlikely. I’m not powerful when it comes to sensing magic but I’ve studied it enough to know that a spell like that would show symptoms right away.” Shu looked at Rantaro. “Do you have any ideas?” Rantaro chuckled.

“Sorry, I don’t think Riders are as well suited to sensing magic as casters. Maybe try asking Suoh?” Shu shook his head.

“To be completely honest, I don’t entirely trust Suoh.” Rantaro looked at him in surprise.

“Really?”

“Yeah, I can’t quite figure him out. He seems to watch everyone in the camp like a hawk. Now that I think about it…” Rantaro watched Shu as he thought. “He seemed to take a lot of interest in Aiger when he showed up. What if…”

“What if what?”

“What if Suoh destroyed the spell?” Rantaro’s eyes widened.

“Really!?” Shu nodded, feeling more sure every second.

“Yeah. I don’t know who else in camp is capable of that.”

“You know it was someone in camp?”

“Yeah, the spell was there during the morning meeting and no one reported that he had left camp so I think Suoh is our most likely suspect.”

“Alright, so we should confront him when we get back!” Shu shook his head. “Why not!? If he did something, we don’t know who else is at risk of being targeted! I think the sooner we deal with him and get him out of camp, the better.”

“But we don’t know what that spell was doing. For all we know, he just saved us a lot of trouble down the line.” Rantaro clenched his fist.

“But he could have just _caused_ a lot of trouble right now! I don’t think we can take that risk! You just said you don’t trust him!”

“Lower your voice, they shouldn’t hear us.’ Rantaro sighed. Shu looked away from him and back to the path ahead. “We don’t want to cause a scene. That’s just going to cause more problems than would really be necessary. I may not trust him, but I’m still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Until he shows clear malcontent, we shouldn’t do anything.”

“So we just wait for him to cause a problem we might not be able to solve?” SuohRantaro exclaimed, clearly not pleased with this plan.

“I doubt he’ll do something that will disrupt his daily life to an extent that something like that would happen. Besides, I said I don’t know if it was caused by him, so if we attacked him when this wasn’t his fault, we just lost someone for no reason.” Rantaro looked back ahead.

“I guess you’re right. What can we do in the meantime?” Shu sighed.

“Nothing…” Rantaro grimaced. “All we can do is wait.”

Valt sat at the front table, bored out of his mind. Why did he assign himself this job? No one ever seemed to show up on their own. But he had to wait for Rantaro and Shu to get back.

“Getting impatient?” Valt looked over as Shasa sat down next to him. He smiled.

“Yeah, a little.” Shasa sighed.

“Well, you never were that good at waiting.” Valt widened his eyes and glared at her.

“What’s that ‘sposed to mean!?” Shasa shrugged. Valt sighed and looked ahead. After a few minutes, he looked back at Shasa. “Wait, you finished your job for the day, right?” Shasa rolled her eyes.

“Of course! I wouldn’t just leave my job undone.” They sat in silence for a few minutes.

“Thanks for everything, Shasa.” She looked at Valt in surprise at his sudden statement. He smiled at her. “When Kris told me that I was going to be running this place after she left, I wasn’t sure I could do it, but you and the rest of the team have helped everything go smoothly. I couldn’t have done this without all of your guys’ help.” Shasa looked down, a little embarrassed.

“I couldn't just leave you to fend for yourself.” She looked up and leaned back in her chair. “I may not have agreed with every decision you made, letting anyone into the camp felt pretty risky if we’re being honest, even though it resulted in Shu joining us, but you’ve helped us get closer to stopping these servants than we’ve ever gotten. And, because of you, more servants than ever have found a place where they’re welcome. I know that my sister will be safe in the future. I can realistically hope that she won’t have to fight or justify her existence to those around her.” Valt nodded.

“I get that. I dread the day Toko and Nika get involved in any fighting. Nika could probably protect them, with her being a berserker and all, but I can’t help but worry. Luckily they’re smart enough to avoid tro- how did this conversation devolve to just me talking about my siblings?” He turned to Shasa. “Sorry, I meant to thank you but you ended up thanking me and I went on a tangent.” Shasa laughed.

“Gratitude isn’t a finite resource, you know. Let’s just call it even. You thanked me and talked about your siblings, I thanked you and talked about my sister.” Valt looked up at the sky.

“I guess that’s true. Alright! The gratitude train has left the station!”

“Pfft, what does that even mean?”

“I don’t know, I just thought it sounded cool.”

The two laughed and looked ahead before Valt laid his head on the table.

“Valt!” Valt opened his eyes and looked up to see Shu standing in front of the table. He must have fallen asleep. It was nearly dark out. Shu sighed and looked back at the other three. Valt saw Rantaro lagging behind the other two. “Was it really necessary to bring six bags? You can barely carry them!” Rantaro somehow sped up to get to the table before Aiger and Anton.

“I don’t want to make another trip in the middle of the winter!” Shu sighed before looking back at Valt.

“We need to go over some stuff before the end of the day, are you okay if we drop these in the mess hall for the night?” Valt nodded and stretched, standing up and following the four inside. As they left the mess hall, Valt turned to Anton and Aiger.

“Thanks for your help! You’re free to go for the night. See you!” He turned and hurried to follow Shu and Rantaro to the central tent. They seemed to be in a hurry. When they got there, Valt stood in front of the table looking back and forth. “What’s wrong?” Rantaro was the first to speak.

“We think something happened to Aiger.” Valt looked at him in surprise.

“What do you mean?” This time Shu spoke.

“When Aiger first came here, I wasn’t sure, but I suspected he had a spell cast on him. I didn’t think it was any of my business so I didn’t report it.” He answered Valt’s question before he had the chance to ask it. “But, before we left, I think it was removed.” Valt looked between the two.

“Do you know what it did?” Shu shook his head.

“Casters can’t tell what a spell does unless they were really sensitive in magic and my magic sensitivity is poor at best.” Rantaro sighed.

“But we do have our suspicions as to who did it.” Valt raised an eyebrow.

Aiger couldn’t sleep, he barely felt safe walking through the camp, let alone sleeping in it. He might as well go for a walk. The camp was drenched in shadow. He felt like every darkened corner held a potential threat. Aiger knew the camp was safe He hurried, weaving through by all of the tents before stopping dead in his tracks as he saw Suoh leaning against the side of one of the tents. Aiger grimaced as Suoh stood up straight and headed towards him.

“What do you want?” Suoh looked at him.

“Is it a crime to go on a walk?” Aiger looked down. “Apparently so, I guess.” Suoh continued walking as Aiger stood still. He passed Aiger and stopped, not turning to look at him. “Hey Aiger, Did you know.” Aiger didn’t bother turning around. He couldn’t, he was frozen in place in fear. “I can sense class.” Aiger’s eyes widened. He felt like he was going to pass out. Suoh glanced back at him before turning forward to head off.

“I guess you didn’t, Avenger.”

“D’you find him?” Fubuki shook his head, walking up to Ranjiro.

“We should probably tell Shu.” Ranjiro sighed.

“You’re right.” As the two started walking Ranjiro looked at the ground. “Even though he has a tendency to disappear now and again, I can’t help but worry.” Fubuki nodded.

“I get that. Every time he disappears, even if we know where he’s going, I worry that that’s the time he won’t come back.” Ranjiro and Fubuki chuckled.

“Well, we’re probably just being irrational.”

“That’s true. He’s probably fine. Do you think we should get Anton?” Ranjiro thought for a moment before shaking his head.

“Best not to worry him. Aiger is probably fine and he can get worried pretty easily. Even easier than you.” Fubuki rolled his eyes and his friend’s joke.

“Sorry I woke you up, again.”

“Nah, it’s fine. You were worried, it can’t be helped. I’d probably be upset if you didn’t wake me up.” Fubuki sighed in relief.

“That’s good to hear.”

“I honestly feel worse about disrupting your routine.”

“Pfft, if you want, I’ll just blame Aiger.” Ranjiro laughed.

“Nah.”

They walked into the central tent and saw Valt and Shu standing at the table. They looked over at them as they walked in. Valt smiled.

“You’re in early!” He looked away from Ranjiro to Fubuki. “Or late, depending on when you usually get here.” Fubuki sighed, ignoring his well-meaning albeit rude comment, and getting to the point immediately.

“Have you seen Aiger?” The room fell silent as Shu and Valt looked at each other. Ranjiro sighed.

“We woke up and he was gone, could you put us on patrol so we can look for him maybe?” Shu looked at them.

“No. You won’t be going to look for him.” Fubuki looked at Ranjiro, shocked. Valt looked from Shu to the others.

“We’ll wait for now. If Aiger doesn’t come back soon, then-” Shu shot a look back at Valt. Valt took a step back in surprise. He sighed and looked down miserably as Shu looked back at Fubuki and Ranjiro.

“If Aiger wants to come back, he’ll come back.” Ranjiro’s eyes widened.

“You can’t be serious!” Fubuki took a step towards Shu.

“He could be hurt! If we don’t look for him, we don’t know what will happen!” Shu looked away.

“Aiger-”

“What’s going on?” The four looked over to see Anton standing in the door. Fubuki’s gaze hardened.

“Aiger is missing.” Anton’s eyes widened. He looked between the four of them, looking nearly distraught.

“W-we have to go find him!” Shu shook his head, closing his eyes.

“I’m sorry but I can’t let you d-”

“No, you don’t understand!” Shu’s eyes shot open as Anton yelled. “S-something was wrong! Yesterday, I mean. Aiger barely felt like himself after we left. His eyes looked so… empty… We can’t just leave him! We have to find him!” Valt looked at Shu.

“Maybe we should-”

“No.” Shu looked at the group, his expression hard. “We won’t do anything for now.” Ranjiro took a step towards him.

“But-!”

“That’s final.” Valt stepped towards his friend, putting his hand on his shoulder. Shu looked back at him. “This is for the best, Valt. You know that.” Valt looked at him for a moment longer before letting go of his shoulder and looking down.

“I know, Shu.” He looked at the three in front of him and reluctantly spoke, hating every word he spoke. “For the time being, we won’t do anything. We’ll wait for Aiger to come back on his own. And if he doesn’t, we’ll treat him as if he isn’t part of this team.”


End file.
